Latest Cooking Answers

Home made popsicles sticking to mold

We had some great organic popsicles made from pineapple. They were a bit pricey so we decided to make some ourselves. The problem is that we can't get them to r

Help with the temp on my crock pot

My Rival Crock Pot doesn't have a high / low (word wise) setting, it only shows me one line or two. I've misplaced my manual and can't for the life of me reme

Fixing oily dukkah

We just made some dukkah by blitzing a mixture of baked nuts/seeds: almonds, pistachio, fennel, coriander, sesame, caraway, cumin (and raw chia at the very end)

Substitutions for canned diced tomatoes

Can I substitute canned tomato puree for canned diced tomatoes? I have a soup recipe which calls for diced tomatoes.

Purpose of low-humidity crisper?

My refrigerator has two crispers, with humidity sliders from low to high. A high-humidity crisper is pretty easy to understand: it traps the moisture inside, pr

How to measure tomatoes for making sauce?

In the ingredient list my recipe calls for 10 lbs of tomatoes. I'm not sure if this means before or after they are cored and peeled. What is the best way to mea

forgot to turn on crock pot for less than 2 hours [duplicate]

I left a pork roast in my crock pot for a little less than 2 hours, but forgot to turn crock pot on. It still felt cool to the touch. Is it

Tortilla de patatas: Flip and slide, or slide and flip?

Most recipes I've found suggest flipping the half-done tortilla from the pan onto a plate, and then sliding it back onto the pan. However, that would leave egg

What is the minimum processing time for salsas?

I found a recipe (Wonderful Salsa at Food.com) that called for it to be processed for 10 minutes. I'm seeing now that other salsa recipes call for 15 or more m

Cooking baked potatoes

I am an experienced cook, more than 50 years in the kitchen. I recently attempted to make a baked potato (basic Idaho baking potato) to go with my meatloaf. I g

Cracked Eggs & Safety

I bought some fresh eggs the other day which don't expire until next month. They've remained in the fridge in their carton. I just realised that a few of the e

Dried Kidney beans for Chili

We're going to buy a large quantity of dried kidney beans. It will mostly be used for Chili. I've never used them before so excuse me if this sounds like a dumb

the yeast wont rise in my bread machine

I have a bread machine and when i follow the recipe putting boiling water, sugar, one packet of yeast, then let if foam for 15 minutes the yeast still isn't ri

What effect on flavor and/or cooking does rinsing grits have?

The first time I bought stone ground grits, the package said I needed to rinse the grits three times before cooking. So I've done that ever since. However, I re

Smoking whole chicken without skin

I smoked a whole chicken with the skin on it and it did not have a smoky taste. My question is whether removing the skin will improve the depth of the smoke fl

Can kvass be made without bread?

While searching for kvass recipes some of them mentioned that kvass can be made with rye flour or malt and since I can't find 100% rye breads where I live makin

adjust flavor from inexpensive brandy

I put cheap brandy in my sauce for stew and it smells like gasoline. Can you adjust this in any way? Of course I made enough for a big group coming over tonight

How do I use fridge's super cooling properly?

My fridge (Whirlpool BSNF 8152 OX) comes with "Supercool" or "Fast cooling" feature. It's supposed to somehow improve the process of cooling newly stocked fridg

Are Santoku blades ambidextrous?

Been in the market for my first good knives - mostly want either a Chef's Knife or Santoku as well as a paring knife. I'm left handed and unsure if Santoku bla

Is it ok to include garlic when I can hot peppers?

I followed the Ball Blue Book recipe for canning hot vinegared peppers. I left the peppers whole, and forgot to discard the garlic from the vinegar recipe befor

Bread preservation

Every time I make bread and put it in a ziplock or plastic wrap it goes moldy in 3-4 days. Does anyone know what I can put in it to make it last as long as stor

Why do dumplings float when they are ready?

Most dumpling recipes—including those discussed on this site—claim that the dumplings will be ready when they float to the surface. I have two inte

Temperature controlled work surface?

I made croissants yesterday, but couldn't be bothered to keep returning the pastry to the fridge in order to keep it cool, so the butter became too soft. While

Vanilla beans vs extract

Say I get me some vanilla beans and, say, I am dabbling with pudding at the time. All recipes I've encountered require vanilla extract to be added to the puddin

Why cook onion with chicken? Is it just for taste?

In some of the chicken chili recipes I use, the recipe says to cook (or sauté rather) chopped onion with the chicken. Is that only because onion adds a c

Sugar and yeast proportion while making sweet bread

Should I decrease the amount of yeast I add depending on how much sweet I add (I use jaggery) while making sweet bread? I understand that sugar (and by extensi

Does toasting and grinding whole spice really improve curry flavor?

It seems to be common knowledge that "toasting is better" when it comes to spices. But the other day I noticed my toasted-and-freshly-ground coriander smelled p

I accidentally dropped the lid from a can of diced tomatos in my crockpot of cabbage roll soup! [duplicate]

I went to stir the cabbage roll soup and found the metal lid to the diced tomatoes in the soup. It's been in there for at least an hour with a

"Overly sour yogurt is a sign of inconsistent inoculation" - What is inoculation?

From here: https://cooking.stackexchange.com/a/13533/6168 Overly sour yogurt is a sign of inconsistent inoculation From: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/

What precautions need to be taken while using sour culture for setting yogurt?

The home made yogurt culture I have is sour. Is it possible to get non sour yogurt from sour culture? What precautions need to be taken while using sour cult